Dichroic Reflections

dream party

The other nght when I couldn't get to sleep, I was thinking that it's been a while since I've been to the East Coast. I saw my parents last fall when they visited us, but there are a lot of other people in the Mid_Atlantic states I really would like to see. From there my mind drifted as it does when you're laying in the dark with your eyes closed, and I got to wishing I could just throw a big party and invite everyone.

There are well over 20 people - I counted, including SOs - I would love to meet up with in that area, stretching from NE Philly to Alexandria on the SW side of Washington DC and filling a lot of the points between. (This is not to say there aren't people elsewhere I want to spend time with, just that there's a concentration in that one area.) Fantasy parties have the advantage that no one can't make it that day, and you never have to worry whether people will get along. Ideally, I could rent a big rambly old house for a long weekend, say somewhere on the north end of the Chesapeake Bay, fill it with food and drink, and invite people to come when they wanted and stay as long as they wanted. Make that a big rambly sound-insulated house; we could have quiet zones for sleeping, noisy zones full of music (and since this is my fantasy, music-making), and lots of space in between for talking.

If you're reading this and you live in the Philly-DC span, you'd be invited. (If you live elsewhere and wanted to come out, you'd be welcome.) One thing I realized as I thought about the people I'd like to spend time with is what a diverse group they are, more so than a group of my friends out here would be. There are people in their 20s and people in their 50s. (If people came from farthere away, there would be a wider range.) There are people I've known since birth, since grade school, high school, college, and people I've met in the last couple of years. There are people I've known online or known of for years and never met in person. There are a surprising lot of people who wouldn't know each other to start with, some of whom I've wanted to introduce for years. There are people who know each other, whom I know from different contexts so we've never all met together at once.

The majority would be readers - we might also need some alcoves to sneak away and read. There would be several folkies. There would be a lot of skiffy types, including some who have gone to several of the same cons and (AFAIK) never met. There would be people whose schooling stopped at high school graduation and people with doctorates, but no one who considers their education over and done with or who uses their brain only to hold the pillow down. (At least not all the time - occasional mindlessness is no bad thing.) There would be people with kids and people who live alone. There would be se married people, single people, and people with other arrangements. There would be several who identify as LGBT (well, LGB but not T, but that's only as far as I know, which isn't very far). There would be people who are doing OK financially and people who eat ramen by necessity just before a paycheck is due. And all of them are people I haven't seen in too long and want to spend time talking to - the one drawback to the party idea is that the fun of seeing people enjoy each other would probably be counterbalanced by my not getting to spend a lot of one-on-one time with each.

I'm not really planning to do it, even though it's at least technically possible, because experience tells me that I'd pick a weekend when half of the invitees would be unable to come and that none of the pairs I'd want to introduce to each other would both be there at the same time. But it was fun to think about and it sure would be fun to do.